September 7, 2011. South Journal. The president of the Chilean Student Federation (Confech), Camila Vallejo, said that the call to a national protest, put off last Monday due to a plane accident, will resume tomorrow Thursday, in order to have the demonstration underway next week. "We are going to resume our call on Thursday according to the initiatives in each region and achieve a strongest and massive demonstration next week," said the student leader.">September 7, 2011. South Journal. The president of the Chilean Student Federation (Confech), Camila Vallejo, said that the call to a national protest, put off last Monday due to a plane accident, will resume tomorrow Thursday, in order to have the demonstration underway next week. "We are going to resume our call on Thursday according to the initiatives in each region and achieve a strongest and massive demonstration next week," said the student leader.">

SOUTH JOURNAL: Chilean Students Ready for National Protest

September 7, 2011. South Journal. The president of the Chilean Student Federation (Confech), Camila Vallejo, said that the call to a national protest, put off last Monday due to a plane accident, will resume tomorrow Thursday, in order to have the demonstration underway next week.

"We are going to resume our call on Thursday according to the initiatives in each region and achieve a strongest and massive demonstration next week," said the student leader.

Vallejo recalled that the people who died in the plane accident last Friday were on their way to offering assistance on the Juan Fernandez island, which was affected by a tsunami in February 2010. "They were also fighting for human dignity," she pointed out.

Chilean students in each region of the country will decide if they join or not the protest action to demand high-quality and free education.

The social struggle is the best way to remember those who died in the plane tragedy, among whom were people that supported the students' struggle, said Vallejo.

Meanwhile, wariness prevails in local student organizations about the proposal made by President Sebastian Piñera to set up a three-week bargaining table as of next Monday to find a solution to the conflict.

The Chilean student movement demands that the government should assume the cost of public education and put an end to the current profit-aimed education system.

The Chilean education sector practically is in private hands, after reforms made by the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. Only 40 percent of Chileans are studying in free public schools, while there is no free-of-charge higher education. Inorder to access university, Chilean students are forced to request bank credits.